It's Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's eightieth birthday today, and we thought we'd celebrate her extraordinary life and incredible career by sharing some of her own words of wit and wisdom!

Brooklyn born Ginsburg has broken so many barriers for women it is almost hard to count. She began her legal career as one of only nine women in her Harvard Law School class. Not to be outdone by her male counterparts, she then proceeded to graduate first in her class-- at Columbia Law School, where she transferred for her final year. When she began teaching law, she was one of only twenty or so women teaching law in the entire country, eventually becoming Columbia Law School's first female tenured professor. She taught classes on women in the law before there were even course books on the subject. She co-founded the first law journal to focus exclusively on women's rights and co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU. She has argued (and won) several landmark sex discrimination cases in front of the Supreme Court. And in 1993, she became the second woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, where she still serves, and this only scratches the surface of the accomplishments of this inspiring MAKER.

Happy birthday, Justice Ginsburg! MAKERS thanks you for all of your tireless work to fight gender inequality and civil injustice, and we feel honored to have been able to capture your story.

Evidence of her supreme wit! When asked to share her most meaninful piece of advice, she shared some advice she received from her mother-in-law on her wedding day (accompanied by a packet of earplugs).

Amazingly, Justice Ginsburg could not get a job after graduating FIRST in her law class, because firms were not yet hiring women. Instead, she began teaching law, eventually using her intelligence to fight for equal rights for women, a path that led her to the Supreme Court.

Did you know Ruth Bader Ginsburg's parents didn't want her to get into law? They soon changed their minds...

Evidence of her supreme wit! When asked to share her most meaninful piece of advice, she shared some advice she received from her mother-in-law on her wedding day (accompanied by a packet of earplugs).

Amazingly, Justice Ginsburg could not get a job after graduating FIRST in her law class, because firms were not yet hiring women. Instead, she began teaching law, eventually using her intelligence to fight for equal rights for women, a path that led her to the Supreme Court.

Did you know Ruth Bader Ginsburg's parents didn't want her to get into law? They soon changed their minds...